misbecomev.
/ˌmɪsbᵻˈkʌm/, U.S. /ˌmɪsbəˈkəm/, /ˌmɪsbiˈkəm/ Now rare.
transitive. To be unsuitable for or unbecoming to.
ΘΚΠ
society > morality > dueness or propriety > moral impropriety > be morally improper for [verb (transitive)]
mis-seema1500
misbecome1530
misbeseem1594
unbefit1621
disbecome1632
unbeseema1657
1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 637/1 It mysbecometh, as a garment mysbecometh one, or any other comunycacion, or other behavour.
1589 G. Puttenham Arte Eng. Poesie iii. xxiii. 221 There is a decencie that becommeth, and an vndecencie that misbecommeth.
1600 W. Shakespeare Henry IV, Pt. 2 v. ii. 99 Speake..What I haue done that misbecame my place. View more context for this quotation
1624 H. Wotton Elements Archit. 55 A Franke Light, can misbecome noe Ædifice whatsoeuer.
1638 Bp. J. Wilkins Discov. New World (1707) v. 39 An Opinion altogether misbecoming a Philosopher.
1739 ‘R. Bull’ tr. F. Dedekind Grobianus 222 Laughter misbecomes Foul furry Teeth.
1749 H. Fielding Tom Jones V. xv. vi. 236 Nothing could misbecome me more, than to presume to give any Hint to one of your great Understanding. View more context for this quotation
1855 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. III. xiv. 464 He declined no drudgery..provided only that it were such drudgery as did not misbecome an honest man.
1889 A. C. Swinburne Study of Jonson 108 Such sweeping denunciation of all contemporary poetry as would not have misbecome the utterance of incarnate envy.
1891 Atlantic Monthly Mar. 430/2 An invocation which, considering the extreme classicism of her times, does not misbecome her as a nun.
1905 R. Garnett William Shakespeare Pedagogue & Poacher 14 Rack not thy brain for tropes rhetorical, Such do but misbecome the borrel man.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2002; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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